IR threat may have finally gotten Harvin’s attention

Twelve days ago, the Seahawks were prepared to put receiver Percy Harvin on injured reserve, shutting him down for the postseason run.

Then, out of the blue, Harvin was practicing and looking good and ultimately he’ll be playing on Sunday against the Saints.

So what happened? How did Harvin go from being a day away from IR to ready to suit up for the divisional round?

Peter King of TheMMQB.com explained during Friday’s PFT Live that the threat to put Harvin on injured reserve may have been aimed at getting him to practice hard in the hopes of getting him ready to play and play well.

If so, it worked. If so, it shows that Harvin remains somewhat of a challenge when it comes to getting him properly motivated and consistently focused on doing what he has to do to be as successful as possible.

LOL get him motivated, if the guy was hurting then he was hurting not IR or the playoffs would have changed that!. Not rushing back would have been the better choice for Harvin especially just to play against the Vikes.

fdugrad says:Jan 10, 2014 5:37 PM

In today’s days of pampered prima players, such as Percy, the ONLY leverage a coach has is control of the prima’s playing time. Good move coach C.

I say this not as a hope, but as a gut feeling having watched him as a Vikings fan. He will not finish this game. He will be injured again and Seattle will be left wondering what they were thinking by trading for this guy. Another “could have been the best” type player with a bad attitude.

If it’s a tactic to get the player to do what he otherwise doesn’t want to do, then that could explode in your face. I don’t know exactly what the situation is, but there is a difference between a positive-based form of motivation (or conditioning or reinforcement whichever is applicable), and a negative one. Just be careful!

I’m sure there is more to this story. Perhaps gamesmanship by Seattle to screw with the Saints. Surprise secret weapon.

I hope he gets crushed by Saints defense.🙂

meatcarroll says:Jan 10, 2014 5:54 PM

“Like I’ve said before, he’s the best player I’ve ever played with. We have the same mindset. There’s not too many guys that play with that mindset to win — Brett Favre, Drew Brees, Ray Lewis — he has that type of mindset. … You never had to get on him about practice. He came out and practiced hard, pretty much like it was a game.” – Adrian Peterson

Harvin loves to play games. Not doubting that. He HATES to practice. He will find any way to get out of it. This doesn’t work well when you have to rehab a legitimate injury and prove to the coaching staff you are ready to play.

Im pretty sure the coaches held him out till the playoffs. A hip labrum surgery takes a while to recover correctly. This isnt about him picking when he wants to play. The coaching staff was conservative with his health to insure he’d be able to play in the playoffs.

They should’ve IR’d him after his hip surgery in the offseason. I’m no doctor, but you’ve seen a player have hip surgery before the season and come back from it in the same season. Case and point, Rosevelt Colvin of the Pats in 2003. He injured his hip in week 2 and was immediately put on IR. The Pats played every game that season including the Super Bowl. Seahawks need to protect their investment and just IR him already.

If Percy didn’t want to play, why would the threat of IR motivate him to play? If he didn’t want to play, he’d be happy with being put on IR. Then he doesn’t have to play… Not sure what your reasoning is here. Would love for someone to explain this idea to me other than just calling Percy a prima-donna.

You know, Seattle could have saved a ton of money and kept their third-round pick this year by drafting Cordarrelle Patterson (first team All-Pro). Would anyone in the NFL prefer Harvin to Patterson right now?

dukeearl says:Jan 10, 2014 7:01 PM

You know, other teams could have grabbed RW earlier than Seattle. I doubt anybody really worries about that.

Keep the hate coming haters! Just gets us more pumped up. Saints will get crushed tomorrow and I’ll be there to witness it. My only wish is that Russell could find a way to be more of an a**hole so that you all could have another reason to hate us!

That is illogical. Why would a guy who doesn’t want to play suddenly get his act together when given the opportunity to sit out the rest of the season? If anything i would think that they told him they were going to put him on IR and he asked them to give him a little more time to practice before they pull the trigger on his season.

If they would of put him on IR in week two would we be debating how lazy he was sitting out all year? no. But because he is ready in time for the playoffs everyone assumes that he’s just been lazy and wants to ride in at the end of a great season. Really, it doesn’t make sense. But fan-boys and the media rarely do.

49erstim says:Jan 10, 2014 8:17 PM

I agree. If he didn’t wanna play then the threat of IR wouldn’t faze him. They must’ve wanted to know about having his roster spot if he wasn’t gonna be available and he took it to heart like a man would and he is gonna push himself to play. I don’t understand these other theories.

Not sure why people are so surprised by any of this. Two and three months ago all the so-called experts were saying that he shouldn’t be rushed back so that his impact could be felt in the post-season when it really mattered. Guess what??

thejuddstir says:Jan 10, 2014 8:44 PM

Paul Allen should prevent anyone from Hawks mgmt from ever talking to Minny about any type of trade or Vikings player. The total contributions from Nate Burleson, TJoke, Sid Rice and P.Harvin don’t equal what Hutchinson himself gave the Vikes. Throw in the draft picks the Vikes received and dumping large worthless contracts and it’s no wonder the Vikes have the Hawks number on speed dial. Percy will always be Percy, he learned well from Randy Moss who “played when he wanted to play.”

Maybe, he wouldn’t get playoff money on IR. He certainly would have had to pass up on a possible Super Bowl opportunity. A sure thing is that there will be some story about his playing time every season.

granadafan says:Jan 10, 2014 9:29 PM

Biggest waste of talent in the league this side of Albert Haynesworthless.

What a piece of garbage this article is, misinformed and clearly written to stir a pot of gossip… Listen to what his teammates say about Percy, a hard working competitor at the highest level… Before he hurt his leg last year in the midst of an mvp season he started in 49 of 52 games, facts say dudes a beast

This is an unsuccessful tactic from Carroll.
Big Mike tried this very same thing last week when he threatened to delete Ryan Braun’s contact from ShAaron Rodgers cellphone. Yet, it backfired and cheesebay lost.

Give Pus…er…Percy an a couple tylenols and tell him to suit up. This report is ridiculous.

whodey420 says:Jan 11, 2014 12:54 AM

How many millions did the Seachickens pay this guy to ride the pine all year? I’m not hating either! Since my Bengals got bounced out of the playoffs because of Jay Gruden’s JOKE of an offensive game plan, I’ll be rooting for Seattle! Something different anyways! As overrated as Percy Harvin is, at least he hasn’t been out of game action because of PED’s!

Everyone talking down Percy should be honest with themselves. It’s not your money. You are not his teammate or coach. You are not on the medical staff. You are free to have an opinion, but that’s all it is. The only true fact we fans know is Percy is a game changer when on the field. He will be on the field against the Saints… Fact

At the time, I read all the press I could find. I never saw any direct threat to put him on Injured Reserve. Our coach, Pete Carroll, talked about a “roster change.” It was the media that twisted that to mean forced retirement for the season, and “injured reserve.” I think an apology to Percy is in order.

Yeah baby…..Harvin is going to play! Cue the migraine…… I would take the prima donna antics of Farve or Moss any day. This clown will leave you hanging when you need him the most. I thought Minnesota wasted three years of AP’s career by not trading this guy for draft choices sooner.

rainponcho87 says:Jan 11, 2014 9:19 AM

people above are saying if were really lazy he would want to be on IR, but you can see why a player who is healthy enough to play wouldn’t want that. He wants to play in some of the playoff games and especially a superbowl. Who wouldn’t want to be a hero for a couple of games while everyone is watching? Then he can go back to letting the rest of team do the hard work in training camp, preseason, and the regular season. If he can be electric in a couple of post season games he may have still have been worth all the trouble though.